Railway signaling system.



A. DULAC.

RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7. 1913. 1,170,143, Patented Feb. 1, 1910'.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

2/ 01 huzooeo w. d 1W1 v m l I A. DULAC.

RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 19m.

1,170,143. Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

or similar oniuon.

ALFRED DULAG', (ll? tl'faIRIDINEE MAINE RAILEZ AY SIGNALING SYtzEIilllQ Specification oi hetters Patented Fehu 1 1916.

Application filed May 7, 1819 Serial 765,163

To all whom it may; concern:

Be it known that l ALrnno Dorian, citizen of the United. Edtates, residing at Gar diner in the county of Kennebec and State f Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Signaling Systems of which the following is a specificatiorn reference being had to the accent-- panying drawings.

This invention relates to an improved sys tern for railways and has particular rol er ence to a system for signaling railway crossings and indicating the time of the arrival of a. train at distant point from the station so that the approximate time of its arrival at the station can be predetermined The priinaryohject of the present invention is to produce a signaling system of the above character which is simplein construe" tion, may be installed at small cost and is highly eliicient and serviceable in practical use. I

The invention has for another and more specific object the provision of electric bells alarm devices, and improved means for closing; the circuit of said alarm devices at a highw crossing.

lhe invention. has for another and more specific object the provision of a clock in eluding stationary and .movable dials, said movable dial being provided with two series of time indicating numerals and a pair of electric hells each having a piercing; element upon its hammer to pierce or puncture said movable dial in line with one of the series of characters thereon when the circuit is closed With the above and other objects in view as will become apparent as the description. proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, combinations and arrange ments of the parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a railroad track and trolley system illustrat ing the arrangement of the conductors at the highway crossing, the trolley station and at a distant signaling station. Fig"; 2 is an elevation of a portion of a trolley pole illustrating the mounting of the contact strip or conductor with relation to the trol ley wire and showing the connection of the signal wire thereto 3 is enlarged side elevation showinpg the mounting; of the contact strip upon the supporting arm; Fi 4; is an enlarged side elevation of the clock provided with the rotatable recording dial, and Fig 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 of 4;.

Referring in detail the drawings, and more particularly to Fig; l thereof 5 indi cates the track rails and G the trolley wire. This trolley wire is suspended in the usual manner from the outer ends of the arms 7 which are suitably fixed to the supporting poles 8 arranged at one side of the track.

Where the track crosses the highway, a.

series of the supporting arms 7 are arranged adjacent thereto while a single arm 7 of the arms is arranged. at the trolley station and at a distant point therefronr To each of these arms adjacent its outer end, an inclined hanger 9 is secured, said hanger havinn; spaced. 10 'The lower ends of these hanger arms are provided with the insulating hloclrs 11 in which a metal contact plate 12 is secured This contact plate extends in parallel longitudinal relation to the trolley wire at a point below the same.

18 designates the trolley pole which is mounted upon the top of a car in any usual or preferred manner said pole being provided upon its upper end with the usual harp 14: in which the trolley wire engaging wheel 15 is rotatably mounted: Upon each arm of the harp M a contact roller 16 is mounted upon a stud bolt secured in said arms In the accompanying drawings, I have shown three of the trolley poles 8 arranged at the highway crossing and upon the central one of these poles a signaling hell 1? is arranged. The circuit for this bell is adapted to he closed through the wires 18 which are connected to the contact strips or conductors 12 the other ends of said wires being connected to one terminal of the bell battery; the other terminal of which is grounded The wire 19 connected to the contact strip 12 at the distant signal station B extends to the home station where it is connected to one terminal of a bell 20.

21 indicates the ground wire which is connected to the other terminal of the hell 2O andto the circuit Wire 9J9;

My improved recording clock includes a stationary dial 22 and movable dial 23. The minute hand 24 is tired upon the minute arbor of the clock mechanism in the usual manner and moves over the face of the stationary dial. The hour hand indicated at 25 is carried by the movable dial and projects over the hour indicating characters upon the face of the stationary dial 22. The outer rotatable dial 23 is provided with two annular series of hour indicating characters 26 and 27 respectively. The bell 20 is arranged adjacent to the clock and a similar bell 28 located at a diametrically opposite point with respect to the clock dial 23. The circuit for the bell 28 is adapted to be closed through the wire 19 connected to the contact strip 12 at the right hand distant station and the ground wire 29. The-rotatable clock dial is formed of material which may be readily perforated, and the hammer of the bell 20 is provided with a sharpened projection 31 to pierce the rotatable dial in line with the outer annular row of hour numerals 26 thereon. The hammer 32 of the other bell 28 is provided with an arm or extension 33 which also has a piercing element 34- to pierce the rotatable clock dial in line with the inner row of hour numerals 27.

From the above description, it is believed that the construction and manner of operation of my invention will be fully and clearly understood. Assuming that the car is up proaching the station from the west, one of the contact rollers on the trolley pole willengage the strip 12 and close the circuit of the bell 20 through the Wire 19. The proj ection 31 on the bell hammer will thus puncture or pierce the outer graduated sections of the rotatable clock dial. Thus the station attendant can readily ascertain the approximate time at which the train will arrive at the station. 'As the train approaches the highway crossing, the circuit of the bell 17 is closed and opened alternately through the medium of the spacedcontact strips 12 to give a warning to pedestrians andothers and thus obviate liability of accidents. When the train is approaching from the opposite direction, it will be understood that the circuit of the other bell 28 is closed through the wire 19 and the inner graduated section of the rotatable clock dial is punctured. By providing the poles 8 at opposite sides of the highway crossing, the circuit of the bell 17 is closed by a train moving in either direction upon the track. When the train arrives at the station, the circuit of the bell 20 is again closed and the rotatable dial again punctured to indicate the actual time of arrival of the train. The circuit at the home station is closed through the wire 19 which is connected to the contact strip 12 at said station and joined to the wire 19 which is connected to the contact strip at the distant signal station E. It is of course understood that the spaces between these numerals are properly graduated to indicate fractional parts of an hour. The movable dials are renewed at noon and midnight, as the same has only twelve hours indicated thereon. It will be obvious, however, that the dial may as well be provided with twenty-four hours without requiring any material changes in the construction of the invention.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have produced a simple, reliable and inexpensive signaling system which may be readily installed in the ordinary electric trolley line system without requiring any changes therein. As all the parts employed are of simple form, it will be obvious that the apparatus is not liable to get out of order, and may be maintained in operative condition at small cost.

While I have shown and described the preferred construction and arrangement of the several parts, it will be understood that the invention issusceptible of considerable modification without departing from the essential features or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: 1

In a signaling system for railways, the combination with the home station and distant signaling stations at opposite sides of the home station along the line of the track, of an indicating clock arranged at the home station and including a stationary dial and an annular rotatable dial and disposed in the same plane therewith surrounding the sta tionary dial, said latter dial having inner and outer graduated surface portions, an hour hand movable over the face of the stationary dial and carrying the rotatable dial,

a minute hand movable over the face of the stationary dial, bells arranged upon diametrically opposite sides of the clock, meaps carried by the bell hammers to indicate upon the innerand outer graduated portions of the rotatable dial respectively, lapses of time, operating circuits for said bells, and means forclosing the respective circuits upon the arrival of a car at the distant stations to ring the respective bells and indicate the time of arrival upon the I inner or outer graduated portion of the rotatable dial and also close the circuit of one of the dials upon the arrival of the car at the home station to indicate upon the rotatable dial the time of arrival.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED DUL A C Witnesses darn RADRIC, A. Poona'aw. 

